The Number 3

I love the number 3. The age of 1 was good, the age of 2 was good, but I'm really enjoying having a 3 year old! Ethan had his birthday in October and I haven't blogged about him in a while, so here's a bit about Big Boy Ethan:

Ethan is SUCH a good boy. He listens and obeys well, tries to keep tantrums to a minimum and is such a good helper and big brother. Sometimes when he obeys quickly, or constantly tells me "Thanks Mom" without any reminders, I'm just am dumbfounded at how he's become a little gentleman and how we got lucky enough to have him. His nightly "Good night Mom, I wuv you too" really makes my day.

• Ethan was a late talker, but as soon as he turned 3, it's as if his vocabulary and grammer skyrocketed. He now can say almost everything, uses correct tenses, and even breaks out of his shell sometimes and talks freely in front of people outside his immediate family.

• I often hear Ethan throughout the day singing songs, mostly Primary ones. I melt when I hear him singing "I pwepawe myself while I am young, dis is my sacwid duty," "I HOPE dey caw me on a Miss-un" "I aways want to be with my own fami-wee." I wish I had a recording to put on here because it's just adorable.

• Ethan's favorite activity is puzzles. He moved from board puzzles a few months ago and now loves to do puzzles with 40-60 pieces, all by himself.

• Friends are an important part of his life right now. He'll often set certain toys apart because "I want to save these for my friends: Pepe (Spencer), Tanner, Jake... They're my BEST Friends."

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Happy Halloween!

Hope you have a SPOOKtacular Halloween!
From the Man (who refused to wear) The Yellow Hat and Curious George

My days of putting in time, sweat, and energy into costume making was equally matched with the tantrums and tears of my obviously less-than-grateful-and-excited-duo. I added in creative baking to our festivities because we obviously can't get enough sugar from trunk-or-treating and trick-or-treating. Receiving the "Tooth Decay" award "for delighting our sweet tooth and encouraging regular trips to the dentist" at our ward Halloween party for my Death by Chocolate Cake, I am reminded of two things:
1. Stick with all store-bought costumes next year.
2. Schedule dental appointments tomorrow morning.

Angel Baby

My little angel baby has turned 1 year old! What an amazing year we've had with Gavin. He is so much fun and easygoing. He really is a dream.

Here are a few of my favorite things at this age:

• Gavin adores his brother. They play together all day, and everytime I catch myself telling Ethan, "Stop, you need to be gentle and not so rough with Gavin because he's little" I'm interrupted by Gavin's laughs and giggles. He loves to wrestle!
• Gavin can entertain himself all day as long as he is fed and rested. He loves toys, but even if there aren't any near, he's content to explore. Usually if we pick him up, interrupting his play, he'll start kicking his legs like crazy to get back down and continue the fun in his world.
• Gavin is adorable. His big blue eyes and long eyelashes grab your attention, and his little petite body hard to hold on to because he can crawl faster than I can catch him. There is almost nothing I love more than a crawling baby. I want him to crawl forever!
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• Gavin is going to be a talker. He'll often just jabber away whether he's talking to himself or seems to be telling me a story in his little language. He can say Mama, Dada, Hi, and most recently, he can babble the tune of "The ABC Song" saying a few of the letters in the alphabet. I'm pretty sure in the last few days I've also caught some "E-I-E-I-O"s too.
  

WE LOVE YOU GAVIN!

The Half

September 11-- tragic day in history, but this year, it was a momentous day for me for a different reason. Brian, I, and my two good friends, Sara and Tawnya ran the Park to Park Half Marathon in Waterloo, Iowa. The weather was great, company fantastic, and the race was amazing.

THE GIRLS WHO MADE ME DO IT (thanks! never would have done it otherwise...)

The week before this, I realized I hadn't been pushing my pace for a really long time, and had been running 10 minute miles for 3 months. So, I picked up the pace that week and reset my goal time of running the 13.1 miles from 2 & 1/2 hours down to 2 hours and 10 minutes, with a secret hope that maybe I could even get close to 2 hours even.

THE RUNNERS

At the start of the race, Brian ran full speed ahead, not to be held back by us women-folk :) , Tawnya ran with her good friend from Wisconsin, and Sara and I ran together for the race. It was GREAT! Sara and I stuck to our goal pace for the first 10 miles and then picked it up for the last 3 miles. The last .1 mile was torturous, but we made it fun both giving our all by "sprinting" to the finish line and coming in at the exact same second. Our time? 1:55:24!!! We beat the secret goal by almost 5 minutes. I was on an adrenaline high after wards and was so excited (and more scared than ever) to do a full marathon a month later.

OUR GUNTIME IS SHOWN, NOT OUR OFFICIAL CHIPTIME (proof Sara beat me, the clock disagrees, but a picture never lies!)

Unfortunately, my pace that week was apparently a little too much for my feet and I ended up getting a stress fracture in one foot, as I found out a few days after the half marathon. The doctor at the sports medicine clinic put me in a trendsetting walking boot and a cross-training exercise only plan. As long as I healed well enough, I could try the marathon, though he wasn't convinced I'd be able to finish it or at least finish without ending up with a broken foot. I trained on a bike like crazy and as soon as I got permission to try a few miles at a time running on a treadmill, I tried it. It was okay, but within a week I felt more pain coming back into my foot and still have had some random pain with it. I decided that if a marathon is something that makes you want to die anyways by the end of the race, it's probably wise not to try one when you're already injured. I'll try again in the spring with a different marathon so I can heal properly over the winter.

MY NEW FASHION STATEMENT

Brian on the other hand, will run the marathon this weekend! I'm sure once I see him and other runners cross that finish line, I'll doubt my sanity at trying to also run one in the future, but I know Brian will do great. He and Sara (who did the St. George marathon a few weeks ago) are my inspiration!

Whoo da woo! Good luck in Kansas City Brian!

Grandma and Grandpa's Trip

A month ago, Brian had an all-day test in Chicago for med school, so I suggested me and the kids go (moral support, right? ;) ) , and my parents also volunteered to fly out from New Mexico (also moral support, hehe) :). It was the first time my parents got to come out to visit us just for fun since being in Iowa, so we were thrilled to spend the first few days of the vacation in Chicago together, then a couple days in Nauvoo, and a little bit of time at our house. We packed in as much fun as we could fit into the 5 day vacation, and it couldn't have been a better trip. Thankfully, my children were able to (mostly) survive a week of no naps...

CHICAGO
We made sure to hit all the Chicago hot spots:

Michigan Avenue


Hancock Observatory


Millennium Park


Cubs game at Wrigley Field


Giordano's Pizza


Shedd Aquarium- WOW! my favorite part of the trip


Water taxi to Navy Pier, lots of walking, expensive parking garages, and taxi's everywhere else, and an hourly scenic trip to the nearest "potty" for the toddler (my least favorite part about the city)

NAUVOO
Another two days were spent in beautiful Nauvoo. It was a perfect time to go because the weather was perfect and the tourist season had just ended so we almost had the whole town to ourselves.

My favorite thing there was going on an hour-long wagon ride.


The city looked so peaceful as we listened to interesting facts about the city's history.


Carthage held the good memory of Brian and I getting our Marriage License at the town hall almost 5 years ago, and I loved the reminder at Carthage Jail of the power of faith and the strength of Brotherhood.



The rest of the trip mainly consisted of getting in some good bonding with my parents, sleeping off the exhaustion of touring, and the icing on the cake was a trip to the outlets!
Thanks so much Mom and Dad for a WONDERFUL trip! We love you!

Alive and kicking (sort of...)

Don't worry raving fans of this blog, we are still alive. And kicking (with the exception of me).
I've been a slacker, I know, but it's really more from busyness than laziness--2 part-time babysitting jobs, 2 kids, and training with lots of miles running and biking. Don't worry, I will return.
More to come soon...trip with my parents, a race, and my new fashion statement--a walking boot...

The Dells

The end of Brian's 3rd year of med school and advent of his final year was celebrated in June by a week long vacation. We spent most of that in Wisconsin, for fun family time with Brian's brother David's family and best friend Justus, at Wisconsin Dells "the waterpark capital of the world," and a wedding for one of Brian's good med school friends a few hours away from the Dells. Thanks for going with us David, Lizz, Saffi, Schafer, Violet, Justus, and newly-announced teeny-weeny-Cheney-baby! (Congrats to David and Lizz, NOT us!) Morning sick Lizz was a good sport in having a good time and hiding the nausea.

Nothing's more fun than fun with cousins. Can these kids get ANY cuter?!?

We stayed in a gorgeous 2-bedroom condo, with a HUGE jacuzzi tub

Ethan's most often repeated phrase this trip: "Dad, I don't know how to swim by myself, don't let go", but this little slide was perfect for his confidence level...

Sunglasses make everyone feel super cool

Back on the Wagon PART II

In a repeat of two years ago (see HERE), I have again started running.
For the past two years, I have set a meager New Year's Resolution of running a 5k. 2 years ago: Completed. 1 year ago: Failed (I WAS pregnant for 10 of those months...). So, this year, I again set the goal: "Run a 5k," but to be honest, I was secretly hoping I could get tough enough to run a 10k.
I probably would have failed again this year, but thanks to some good friends, Tawnya and Sara, I got talked into training for a half marathon. Though this has been my hope/goal-but-not-ready-to-commit-since-really-I'm-a-wimp-when-it-comes-to-discomfort/pain ever since I first watched Brian run his first marathon and observed the demographics of the participants (many 2-3 times as old and 2-3 times as heavy), I thought "Hey, I could do that!"

Luckily, the stars aligned for me and this race:

• Brian is training for a marathon
• I'm not pregnant
• We just got a FREE double stroller (Thanks Mills!)
• We can run as a family
  
• I have friends to run with
• I have had a less busy schedule lately
• Gavin started sleeping through the night the week I started running again
• Brian is on the least busy work/school schedule he will probably ever have until retirement, so he can be home with the kids while I run
  

So, 4 times a week I am running. By myself. Or with my hub and 2 kids (I can keep up with him only because of the extra 85 pounds he pushes). Or with friends. I've been surprised how much I actually enjoyed working my way up in mileage...
I repeat to myself "I can do hard things". And then there's some runs when I say "Chelsea, you are an idiot. Why would someone CHOOSE to do this?" Regardless. Watch out Iowa. Though I'm slow as molasses, I will finish those 13.1 miles when September comes...

Our Deere Friends

A few weekends ago we traveled to Moline, IL to visit the zoo, John Deere factory, and to get some delicious ice cream with our "Deere" (and best) friends, the Jacksons.


The zoo is quite small and perfect for (most) toddlers. Unfortunately, Ethan was not in the best of moods and decided he didn't want to see the animals that day, crying in panic if we got closer than 10 feet from an animal's fence. Petting zoo? Out of the question for him. Which inevitably brings up the question in my mind, "WHY do we keep planning trips around what our children would enjoy; when really, they more often than not don't have any fun with what we end up doing?) Luckily, Ethan warmed up the second half of the zoo and enjoyed the animals from a nice, safe distance. Funny how kids remember things a bit different than how things happen: Ethan now often talks about how he saw animals at the zoo and had so much fun there, and liked it a lot. Thank goodness for a change of heart, even if it is after the fact.


The John Deere Pavilion was great; we got to see, climb, and play on HUGE John Deere tractors on display and experience some other hands-on activities. Ethan is IN LOVE with anything tractor/truck/construction, so this was so fun for him to be able to pretend to be the tractor driver.

The big tractor scoop was perfect for pictures!

The day ended with a trip to Lagomarcino's, which National Geographic Traveler says is "the best old-fashioned ice cream parlor in the world" and Roadfood claims it has "just maybe the best hot fudge in this solar system or any other.” I ordered a hot fudge sundae and yes, the hot fudge is delicious, and the ice cream was really good too. My "Green River" drink was probably really good, but I didn't really get to taste any as Ethan decided take over our drinks and Brian's milkshake.

SAY CHEESE! How NOT to have a photoshoot...

Great photographer + professional camera + beautiful location= Good family photo shoot

The above equation should be true. But unfortunately, we know how to make any ordinary activity into a whirlwind of adventure.

Here's a play-by-play on how to have
the most memorable (i.e. worst) photo shoot EVER:

Attempt I

• Plan photo shoot for evening of 1st day of summer in apple orchard; make sure temps are high and humidity is higher (so much that you feel you're actually swimming in the air).
• Have towel handy to stop and wipe sweat dripping down everyone's faces within the first 5 minutes.
• Bribe toddler with candy each time he smiles: this inevitably results in him hiding his head from the camera to spite us, or "complying" with our request by throwing his head back and laughing like an evil villain.
• Forget to bring anything for photographer to distract baby with. He will be too distracted looking elsewhere or trying to pull grass off the ground anyways.

Attempt II

• Since neither child is willing to look and smile at the camera, take a break by getting shots of the kids together and individually.
• Toddler will continue with his villainous goofing off.
  
• Put baby on unlevel grass, where he will roll over with his face in the grass. In the next 5 minutes, baby will break out into hives, at which he will not be able to keep from scratching the right side of his face remainder of day.

Attempt III

• Hike a few minutes away to get to beautiful scenery and pond.
• Try more family pictures. Toddler may almost respond to bribes/threats, but adds in the "pirate stink-eye". Baby will keep scratching hives on face.
• Let it rain. Hide under wimpy tree while heavy rain pummels you.
• At first let-up of rain, run towards parked cars (through the orchard and up the big hill)
• Stop again under another tree as rain starts pouring again. Send husband to run get car and drive over grass to rescue photographer/camera, wife, and crying children.
• Wait in car until raining stops. Back car up, allowing hidden metal stake in ground to scratch whole side of car (luckily, same side Ethan already got to with his bike).

Attempt IV

• Muster up enough courage to try for a few more pictures in front of picturesque barn, despite SOAKING clothes, cranky kids, and humid-soaking-fro-of-a-hairdo.
• Try family photos again. Uhh. Decide we won't be inviting children under the age of 3 to our next family portrait session.
• Strive for one last shot of boys together. Sit both on bench, trying to stay close enough to catch anyone that jumps.
• Jump up and down, yell, sing, dance, trying to get boys to look at camera.
  
• Baby will find something more interesting on ground, and try to touch it, doing a FACE PLANT into cement ground 2 feet below!
  
• Hold in tears while trying to comfort traumatized and wounded baby, decide whether or not ER visit was necessary (luckily, we got to skip that).
• Pay photographer.
• Go home.
• Cry.

Reshoot

• Luckily, photographer is nice enough to do a quick re-shoot since the devil and his minions ganged up against us in our last shoot.
  
• Repeat children refusing to look at camera.
• Snap a few good ones.
• Sigh in relief.
• Avoid the tendency to remember that this type of event must be repeated yearly.

And my favorite picture...